The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-05-25
a QUEER OLD BOOM.

mississippi scheme" in France, there oc-
CURED the queerest and most fantastic
speculation ever known in any country in
ancient or modern history. In some sort
it typifed the grain and oil and stock spec
ulations of to-day, when millions of dollars
of one or the other change hands in an
hour, and not a grain of wheat or a drop of
oil ever passes or appears at all, or isex-
pected to materialize more substan-
tally than a dead friend at spiritual
seance. This was what is usually called
the "TuIIp mania" of Holland, and
mainly of the city Harlem. 1t never in
fected or affected any neighboring people
or any commercial connection, but ran its
course in a couple of years wholly among
the Dutch. Early in the seventeenth Gen.
fury the Dutch became noted for their
cultivation of particular kinds of flowers,
taking special interest in the methods as
well as the quality of flower produced,
and for their success in propagating species
as well as diversifying them. But the
taste seems to have been confined in action
to decorative work altogether, and never
or rarely reaching out in speculative di-
Iection.
1t was spread alone, though chiefly in
England and Scotland by the Dutch refug-
ees from religious persecution, in the first
quarter of the century, mainly in the reign
of James 1. The pilgrims OF the May
flower" during their sojourn in Holland,
might have been imbued with the flower
feeling and planted it in Plymouth, If the
soil had been suitable, but, as Congdon
sang:
SIT was their luck to land
Upon almost the only rock along the Plymouth
sand"
And neither rock nor sand made good
fower-bed. At all events the Dutch taste
didn't get here as early as 1t did in Eng
land, when all the neighborhoods in
which the Dutch refugees settled became
noted for their wealth and beauty Of
flowers, other than native or wild
flowers. Here originated the florists and
horticulturist's business. And Holland
still holds the first place as cultivator OF
what are called florists flowers" Out of
this general diffusion of a peculiar taste
and fashion of cultivation grew the condi-
lions that made the tulip mania possible.
The fever ran its course in about two
years, 1886 and 1857. Tulips had long been
a fayorite product of the gardens of Har-
lem, manly, it is probable, because the
oualit yof the soil was especially suited to
their cultivation. Bulbs were sold as they
are now, but "boom' was given to par
ticular variety by the success of florist in
improving the brilliance of its color. BY
what gradations this natural and easy de-
yelopment of special value grew into
crazy speculation there are no records to
show, but it seems to have broken cut al
most at its worst, and to have fallen as
suddenly as it rose. We have seen legend
that a ship captain brought bulb from
the Dutch East Indies which he had
seen in bloom there, and his account OF 1t
excited so much emulation to obtain
others like it that some shrewd speculator
went out there and obtained lot of bulbs
of that and other kinds, and with these
began the mania. 1t was not like the fam
tastic prices of South Sea or Mississippi
stock in 1920, for then stock actually passed
with the sales, and in the tulip speculation
the costly root frequently never turned up
at all. and in the last of the course was not
expected. The speculation was bet on
prices at some given time in the future, ex-
ectly like the grain and stock gambling OF
to-day.
Some OF the prices paid in the height OF
| the frenzy far surpass the later follies Of
| London and Paris. A bulb called the
"Semper Augustus" was sold for l5,OOC
forms or guilders, about $500. Three
bulbs of the same precious variety sold fol
30 600 forms, or over $4,000. Many varie
ties were merely invented, never seeu Of
dreamed of except by name, and sold ex
travagantly, partly, it is to be supposed
because the sellers Imagination was no
tied down by airy consciousness OF fact II
descriptions of their beauty. In othe
cases sales for future delivery were mad
of bulbs that were invented and named II
the interval. No Limitation was exhibited
The invention did not take on so substan
tial form as that. The tumble OF tn
speculation ruined a good many credulou
purchasers and some dealers, just as whes
and stocks are doing now, $50 years late
Even now some of the price lists of HarleI
florists show tulips marked at % to IL
forms, or from $40 to $50.